Big Thread O' Iraq (with bonus Iran!)

[Fifthfiend]

White House confirms Bush-Maliki to meet
(AFP)

WASHINGTON - The White House Friday reiterated that President George W. Bush would meet Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al Maliki in Jordan next week amid a sharp rise in Shia-Sunni violence Friday.

As Vice President Dick Cheney took off on a trip to Saudi Arabia on Friday, the White House said there would be no change to Bush’s planned summit with Maliki even as a top Shia cleric said he would pull his faction out of the Baghdad government if the meeting takes place.

“Securing Baghdad and gaining control of the violent situation will be a priority agenda item when President Bush meets with Prime Minister Maliki in just a few days,” said White House spokesperson Scott Stanzel.

The spike in violence in Iraq Friday left at least 202 dead in a wave of bombings in the Shia neighbourhood of Sadr City, the deadliest attack since the war began in 2003.

Apparent revenge efforts by Shia militias left dozens more feared dead in attacks on Sunni mosques in Baghdad.

Separately a triple bomb attack in the northern town of Tal Afar killed 23 people and wounded 45 others Friday, according to police.

The White House condemned the attacks by both sides.

“These ruthless acts of violence are deplorable. It is an outrage that these terrorists are targeting innocents in a brazen effort to topple a democratically elected government. These killers will not succeed,” said White House spokesman Scott Stanzel.

How to quell the violence will likely be the focal topic in talks that Cheney holds with Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah and Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz, and the Bush-Maliki meeting on November 29-30 in Amman.

Cheney could ask Abdullah to use his influence to help foster reconciliation between warring factions in Iraq, and also press for Riyadh to come through with its promised reconstruction aid.

But Friday’s violent surge has added urgency to both trips. A few hours before the attack on Sunni mosques in Baghdad, the political group of Shia cleric Moqtada Al Sadr, whose base is in Sadr City, threatened to quit the national unity government if Maliki meets Bush.

But Stanzel confirmed that the meeting will take place despite the threats by Sadr’s allies. Bush and Maliki are also to see Jordan’s King Abdullah II, as pressure mounts for all of of Iraq’s neighbours to help contain the daily bloodshed.

With US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice also due to visit the region soon, the top-level travel reflects the seriousness of the situation on the ground in Iraq, as does Bush’s stated openness to potential policy change there.

The rising violence, a surge in US casualties in Iraq, and the victory of opposition Democrats in Congressional elections on November 7 have piled pressure on Bush to change US policy in Iraq, if not to begin withdrawing troops — something Bush has steadfastly refused to commit to.

But after an October that was the bloodiest month for Iraqi civilians — according to the United Nations — and one of the bloodiest for US troops since the March 2003 invasion, the latest anti-Shia attack and counterattacks will only elevate the pressure on the president to change course.

Stanzel said Friday that the violence is “clearly aimed at undermining the Iraqi people’s hopes for a peaceful and stable Iraq.”

He added that “the United States is committed to helping the Iraqis.”

It remains unclear, however, what resources Bush and Cheney can marshal to stop the country from plunging into all-out civil war.

Bush has started a comprehensive review of his Iraq policy. Two reports are expected in the coming weeks — one from the administration and another from a high-powered independent panel — which could play a big role in decisions on strategy and US troop levels.

The worsening situation in recent months also raises questions about US trust in Maliki and, specifically, his ability to end attacks by militia.

So far, Bush has publicly stood by Maliki, but his confidence seems to be increasingly in doubt.

November 22, 2006
Bush, Maliki to meet as Iraqi deaths hit new high
By Claudia Parsons

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush will meet Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki in Jordan next week with grim new statistics showing record numbers of Iraqis were killed last month and many more fled the country.

A U.N. report put civilian deaths in October at 3,709 -- 120 a day and up from 3,345 in September. Nearly 420,000 moved to other parts of Iraq since the February bombing of a Shi'ite shrine in Samarra triggered a surge in sectarian attacks.

It said as well as those displaced within Iraq, nearly 100,000 people were fleeing to Syria and Jordan every month -- proportionally equivalent to a million Americans emigrating each month, depriving the U.S. economy of a city the size of Detroit.

The meeting between Bush and Maliki in the Jordanian capital Amman, a much safer venue than Baghdad, will follow a weekend visit to Iran by Iraqi President Jalal Talabani and this week's landmark visit to Iraq by Syria's foreign minister.

They will be the first lengthy talks between Bush and Maliki since Bush pledged a new approach on Iraq after his Democratic opponents took control of the U.S. Congress.

A month ago the two spoke to ease mutual irritation over how much the other was doing to halt violence.

They agreed to draw up plans for accelerating the training of Iraqi forces and the transfer of responsibility. Maliki said Iraqis could take charge in six months, half the U.S. estimate.

A joint statement on the Nov. 29-30 summit said: "We will focus our discussions on current developments in Iraq, progress made to date in the deliberations of a high-level joint committee on transferring security responsibility and the role of the region in supporting Iraq."

American politicians, notably Democrats pressing for troop withdrawal, are frustrated that, after six months in power, Maliki has failed to disband militias loyal to fellow Shi'ites.

With Bush's allies urging him to reach out on Iraq to U.S. adversaries in Tehran and Damascus, Washington reacted coolly to the flurry of regional diplomacy seen with Syria restoring full relations with Iraq and Talabani saying he would visit Iran.

FRESH IDEAS

According to the U.N. bimonthly human rights report, Baghdad was the epicentre of the violence, accounting for nearly 5,000 of all the 7,054 deaths in September and October, with most of the bodies bearing signs of torture and gunshot wounds.

Sectarian attacks were the main source of violence, fuelled by insurgent attacks and militias as well as criminal groups.

"Entire communities have been affected to various degrees and, in some areas, neighbourhoods have been split up or inhabitants have been forced to flee to other areas or even to neighbouring countries in search of safety," the report said.

The report said that ethnic and religious minorities, such as Christians, were being targeted along with professionals such as academics, lawyers, judges and journalists.

It also raised questions about the sectarian loyalties and effectiveness of Iraq's 300,000-strong U.S.-trained security forces ahead of next week's meeting between Bush and Maliki to discuss speeding up the handover of security control to Iraq.

"There are increasing reports of militias and death squads operating from within the police ranks or in collusion with them," it said. "Its forces are increasingly accused of ... kidnapping, torture, murder, bribery ... extortion and theft."

Militias were also reported to be forcibly evicting people from their homes. One such is Waleed Jihad, who lives in a tent in the Kurdish city of Sulaimaniya, 330 km north of the Baghdad home he was forced to leave by Shi'ite militias.

"I'm living in a tent because we are practising democracy in a jungle, where the mighty kill the weak," said Jihad, 37, a Sunni Arab from the Shi'ite stronghold of Kadhimiya where, he said, gunmen gave him a 48-hour ultimatum to get out of town.

Following the Republicans' defeat at Congressional elections this month, Bush has said he is looking for "fresh perspectives" on Iraq. Next month he is expected to receive recommendations on Iraq from a bipartisan Iraq Study Group, and the Pentagon is conducting its own review.

(Additional reporting by by Aseel Kami, Mussab Al-Khairalla, Ross Colvin and Alastair Macdonald in Baghdad, Matt Spetalnick on Air Force One and Edmund Blair in Tehran)

Couple things -

Baghdad is so unsafe that it's own supposed President has to conduct his meetings in another country? If they were looking for a way to make Maliki look like a puppet, then congratulations.

In that vein, Sadr's played his card in a pretty timely manner, in that whatever Maliki does, it'll be like hanging a sign over his office indicating who really runs the Iraqi government, whether that person is Sadr or Bush.

That bit about the "comprehensive review" of Bush's total lack of an Iraq policy would be hilarious, if it weren't for all the people dying.

I dunno. Your thoughts?